Greta Thunberg has been mocked for appearing to fake being handcuffed upon her arrival to France.

The Swedish activist was deported from Israel following a brief spat with local authorities this week. She and 11 others attempted to sail to Gaza to make a statement against Israel’s campaign, but were seized by Israeli authorities and quickly sent on their way.

Of the 12 activists on board the Madleen, which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza, four, including Thunberg, agreed to be deported immediately, while 11 of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years, the rights group that legally represents some of them said in a statement.

The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, and brought before a detention review tribunal on Tuesday, rights group Adalah said.

Greta Thunberg appears to hold her hands back like she's been handcuffed in videos taken of her in France.
Greta Thunberg appears to hold her hands back like she’s been handcuffed in videos taken of her in France.@BerkoTzlil

Greta Thunberg
Thunberg walks through security at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.@BerkoTzlil
“The state asked the tribunal to keep the activists in custody until their deportation,” Adalah said, adding that under Israeli law, individuals under deportation orders can be held for 72 hours before forcible removal.

Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of Ashdod.

They then transferred them to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, from where Thunberg flew to France ahead of a scheduled flight to Sweden.

Greta Thunberg seated on an airplane.
Thunberg sits in a plane, in a location given as Tel Aviv, Israel, June 10, 2025.via REUTERS
Taking to X, Meghan McCain – the daughter of the late Republican senator and presidential nominee, John McCain – shared footage of Thunberg aboard the plane.

“Putting her in the last seat in coach that doesn’t recline next to the toilet is my favorite thing today,” she captioned the clip.

On arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, 22-year-old Thunberg accused Israel of “kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel”.

Greta Thunberg speaking to journalists at an airport.
Thunberg talks to journalists upon her arrival to Charles de Gaulle Airport, as she left Israel on a flight to Sweden via France, after she was detained along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat, on June 10, 2025.AFP via Getty Images
“This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing,” she said.

Four French activists who were also aboard the Madleen were set to face an Israeli judge, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

He had earlier posted on X that five would face court action and only one would depart voluntarily.

Greta Thunberg giving an interview at Arlanda airport in Stockholm, surrounded by people holding Palestinian flags.
Thunberg talks to journalists as she arrives at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm, Sweden, on June 10, 2025.Anders Wiklund/TT/Shutterstock
Barrot told reporters that French diplomats had met with the six French nationals in Israel, and that French-Palestinian European MP Rima Hassan was among those who refused to leave voluntarily.

The activists, from France, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, aimed to deliver humanitarian aid and break the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.

In what organizers called a “symbolic act”, hundreds of participants in a land convoy crossed the border into Libya from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned is at risk of famine.